84 Bulletin No. 2g. 



BLACK VULTURE {CATHARTES ATRATA) 

 IN VIRGINIA. 



In the United States National Museum, there is an egg of the Black 

 Vulture taken in Fauquier Co., Va., by my collector and sent to the 

 Museum with a lot of aura eggs, but which upon first glance Major 

 Bendire called at rata and labeled it as such. The collector said the 

 bird's flight was peculiar, that he wondered at the time why it was that the 

 vulture salted so steadily and circled around so clumsily, but he did not 

 know the Black Vulture and did not suppose it was other than aura. 

 However, it turned out well. This is the first record for Cathai'tes 

 atrata in Virginia, and I take pleasure in adding this species to the list 

 of Virginia avifauna, 



John W. D.aniel. Jr., Lyuctibur^i^ . J\i. 



THE YEARS WORK. 



Although it is an entire month before the close of the current bird- 

 year, a brief summary of the work is made necessary by the special 

 bulletins which will mark the new year. This early summary is made 

 less premature by the unlikeliness of much more work during the remain- 

 ing weeks. Any further records would therefore be rather accidental 

 than as the result of a definite effort, hence the timeliness of the summary 

 as marking the close of the year's activity. 



The year has been marked by much greater activity than during 

 any previous eleven months, with the logical result that more records 

 stand to its credit. The year's records reach 182, against 175 during the 

 whole of 1898, and a smaller number for any preceding year. Yet this 

 large number does not include eleven species recorded in 1898, six of 

 which might be expected with a considerable degree of confidence. But 

 seventeen species not recorded in 1898 are on the list for 1899, one of 

 them, Carolina Wren, being a new county record. Of the remaining six- 

 teen two were recorded by Mr. W. L. Dawson before his departure. The 

 writer's list therefore numbers 180, against 170 for 1898. Two of this 

 number — Prairie Warbler and Wilson's Phalarope — were new to the 

 writer, and eight — Shoveller, Black Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, 



